One Final Day of Nice Weather...
... and now things are going to get nasty. :P From the Environment Canada webpage:
Snowfall Warning in EffectWarnings
Shaunavon - Maple Creek - Val Marie - Cypress Hills
11:15 PM CST Friday 07 January 2011
Snowfall warning for
Shaunavon - Maple Creek - Val Marie - Cypress Hills continued
Snowfall accumulations of 10 to 15 cm possible by Saturday evening.
A developing low pressure system will track into Southwestern Saskatchewan overnight. Snow already in Alberta has spread into Western Saskatchewan this evening. Snow will linger in a line from just west of Kindersley towards Val Marie much of the day Saturday where the heaviest band is expected. Generally 10 cm of snow will fall in the affected regions with closer to 15 in the Kindersley region near the Alberta border. Strengthening winds with this system will also give blowing snow in some areas as well with locally poor visibilities developing. Regions outside the warning area will see 5 to 10 cm of snow by Saturday evening with lesser amounts to the northeast of a line from Saskatoon to Regina and southeastward. Local blowing snow is still likely in regions not currently under the warning as winds increase into Saturday.
If this system intensifies or alters track, this warning may be upgraded or extended to adjacent regions.
It was actually a beautiful day earlier; The sun was shining, the wind was calm, and it was pretty warm (close to the freezing mark instead of many degrees below it!) As I mentioned in the last entry, I got the engine working for the Sears snow-blower, and this morning I got it installed on the machine. It took longer than I expected, mostly because I had a devil of a time getting the drive-belts back into position - the blasted things would keep popping off the large pulleys in the bowels of the machine whenever i tried to get them over the pulley on the engine. I eventually did get it all put back together though, and it works perfectly. Delivering it back to the customer was another issue though...
I used it to clear a path to the shop so that I could bring the Explorer up to the shop and hook it up to the trailer. What I didn't realize was that though I had taken between 8 to 12 inches of snow off the surface, there was a harder layer of snow about another 12 inches deep below it! This was packed hard enough that it could support the weight of a person and a snow-blower, but not the weight of a vehicle. Of course, I didn't find this out until the Explorer sank in up to its axles, and since the 4x4 option on it doesn't work, I was good and stuck! It took close to an hour's worth of digging, grumbling (ok, cursing), and rocking it back-and-forth to finally free it, but I did get it out. While the weather was nice, I decided that I had better change that fuel-filter in the Chevy Diesel as well.
I must remember never to buy a fuel-filter (at least not for this truck) from Canadian Tire again. Back in Calgary they sold me a filter that wasn't made properly and thus didn't fit, and now out here they've done it again. It claims to be "precision engineered", but it's a total piece of garbage! The old filter (which came from NAPA after the last go-round with Canadian Tire) just drops into place as slick as you please, this filter couldn't be made to fit in no matter what, and it came apart in the process! I'm going to take it back, and I'm going to insist on a refund, because it's simply a useless piece of junk. Same thing happened last time, and they balked and said I couldn't return it because it was used. Umm, hello. Yes... It's "used" in that it was dipped into the fuel-bowl, which is how these things are installed. You can't find out that it's a cheaply-made-piece-o-crap-that-doesn't-fit until you try to install it! I made them take it back and refund my money, and I'll do so again if they balk at it again. I'll be picking up a filter that actually fits from NAPA, and I won't make this mistake again. *grump* In the meantime, the old (NAPA) filter is back in the truck, and it really is dirty. It's actually black, and they start off as a sort of golden-beige. Fortunately, Shaunavon has a NAPA dealership, so I can get the filter there, but it will be a while before I can get it installed given the weather forecast.
While I won't take the truck out on the highway until that filter is replaced (and then pray that the problem was just the filter, and not something more serious!) it was running well enough to putter around the yard and pull the trailer free from where it was snowed-in overby the shop. The truck's 4x4 works just fine, so it had no problems slogging through the snow. Once the trailer was clear, I hooked it up to the Explorer, and the Kidling and I loaded the snow-blower onto it, and delivered it to the customer. Given that there's a snowfall warning in effect for the area, I'd say the timing was perfect! The customer is happy, and I've got a whopping big bill to send in to Sears. Now I just need to figure out all the little codes they want me to use to fill out the paperwork. :P Luckily, I can call Marian or Noreen or Barb, and they'll help me muddle through it!
The wind is really howling out there now, and I'm just wondering if the power is going to stay on all night or not. The generator is ready to go in any case, but I'd really prefer not to have to use it!